Threat of student bringing gun to school 'not viable'

ROCKMART, GA (CBS46) -

Rockmart Police said the threat of a student planning to bring a gun to Rockmart High School on Friday was "a big miscommunication," but many students still left school because they said they felt unsafe.

Junior Michael Smith was one of the students who left after hearing rumors of a student bringing a gun to campus.

"People came in and was saying that there was somebody coming to the school with guns, gonna shoot the place up," Smith said. "It was better to play it safe than be sorry about it, go to school and know that people are still out there."

But Keith Sorrells, Rockmart Police Chief, said he does not believe the threat was viable. He said rumors started after two students were talking about bullying, and one of the students said he thought about bringing a gun to school when he was bullied two years ago. Sorrells believes part of the conversation was shared by a student via text messaging and later spread on Facebook.

"When that text got out, it was shown to several people, it hit Facebook and it took on a life of its own," Sorrells said. "They had heard that there was going to be some problems at the school involving a gun."

Sorrells said police stopped the student accused of making the threat this morning for a minor traffic violation, got his permission to search his car and found no guns.

"He told us there's not any weapons in the truck, the only thing in there that I know of is an axe and that is for hunting," Sorrells said.

The student was not charged with anything and his name will not be released. Sorrells said he is grateful to students who alerted authorities about the potential threat.

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